


Brother's Keeper

by PatchworkIdeas



Series: WinterFRE 2020 [6]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Bullying, Fluff, Gen, SkilledKili, SneakyFili, some mention of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-01
Updated: 2020-02-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:28:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22438762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PatchworkIdeas/pseuds/PatchworkIdeas
Summary: There are more ways than one to take care of one's brother.
Relationships: Fíli & Kíli (Tolkien)
Series: WinterFRE 2020 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1604650
Comments: 7
Kudos: 25
Collections: GatheringFiKi - Winter FRE 2020





	Brother's Keeper

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Prompt Nr.10:  
> Fili using a bow

Kili was out in the woods again.

It wasn't the first time, wasn't even the first time he went without Fili, but it still worried him nonetheless.  
It wasn't because his little brother was defenseless, far from it, but rather what had been driving him out on his own in the first place. 

He had caught the tail end of it this time.  
Idiots who teased Kili about his gangly looks, his still missing beard and worst of all - his bow.  
Kili knew plenty of weapons, could defend himself adequately even without them if need be, could have taken any of those upstarts without a problem. 

But he was _good_ with a bow.  
In a way dwarves just weren't.  
So most didn't even try. 

They saw him being a master at a weapon that was almost exclusively used for hunting, if even that.  
In the stories they all grew up with, only cowardly elves used bows.  
So in the eyes of those useless morons, Kili was a coward at best and a short elf at worst. 

Rumours about him being a bastard where luckily quickly shushed - the Durinsons might not be as loved as they once were, but the elders still cuffed any who would openly attack the line itself like that. 

A courtesy not given to its youngest, unfortunately. 

There was little more Fili wanted to do than beat the imbeciles bullying his brother into the ground - but he was a Durinson.  
He could not attack his own people, as much as he didn't want these to be his anything. 

But there were ways around that. 

He noted their names and faces, their families and their alliances and made plans to make their coming months extremely busy and extremely miserable - without ever openly mentioning his brother or any bullying of course.  
Kili could take care of himself and was doing just that, but Fili saw no reason not to use what little power he had to make life just a bit more pleasant for his brother. 

But that would be in the future. For now, Kili had withdrawn into the woods to finish his training in peace - and perhaps to prevent himself from causing a scene. 

Being close enough to see where he went, Fili followed on quiet feet. It was utterly impossible to find Kili out here normally - his brother knew every crook and cranny and every hidden path. Fili was good in these woods, but Kili was in his element. 

As such it was little surprise when Kili eventually started ranting at him, despite how hard Fili had tried to keep his presence hidden - if only to see if he could.  
... And, perhaps, to get a clue where his brother disappeared to.

He sped up with a wry grin, now just a few steps behind so that Kili wouldn't have to yell anymore, and listened and watched in awe how his brother casually shot arrow after arrow into the tiniest targets, through the brush and the leaves, never once faltering in his tirade about the small mindedness of people that would not be named.

(Kili never gave him names. He knew Fili. Just like Fili knew the way Kili would laugh with him anyway, out here in the woods, once he found out what would happen to those dim-witted assholes.) 

His brother collected his arrows on the way, sometimes all but jumping up trees, shooting them unerringly into the next target before he even hit the ground.  
It was mesmerizing to watch. 

"Can you teach me how to do that?"  
It slipped out without any thought, and the seemingly innocent question caused Kili to trip and stutter, breaking his smooth stride for the first time.  
It wasn't an innocent question at all, and Kili's eyes were blown wide, fastened onto his. 

They both knew that the only reason why Kili was allowed to use the bow was that he was so incredibly good at it. 

No dwarf taught him, would have dared to teach him, as royalty was supposedly above using a hunters tool.  
Which was horse shit of course.  
Nevertheless, Kili's talent had only been discovered when he had, as a wee lad just old enough for his first wooden sword, wandered away and befriended a passing ranger. The short bow had been more of a giant long bow for his brother back then, but he had still picked up the basics lighting fast and something that had started as a means to entertain a kid until his mother found him became an actual training session which lead to the ranger going out of his way the following years to visit and teach him whenever he could. 

Kili was a natural, and when Thorin had tried to convince him to drop it, concentrate on other weapons, Kili just learned those too, sneaking out at night for his archery training anyway.  
Kili was a born archer, and their family had finally accepted it, pretended it was so that they could help provide for their people better in these trying times. 

They both knew Thorin would skin them alive if he caught Fili trying to learn, too. 

"Are you sure?" his brother licked his lips, nervous but so obviously eager that Fili couldn't help but laugh.  
"Of course I'm sure, silly. I doubt I'll ever be as good as you, but that's no excuse not to try!" Especially if it would give them another connection, something that was just _theirs_. 

Fili's increasing responsibilities left precious little time to spend together. He didn't want to let anything come between them, didn't want the years to let them grow apart like they had started to in the last weeks.  
Learning archery from his brother, with all the secrecy that would require, seemed a perfect opportunity to bridge that gap and bring them closer together again. 

So Fili concentrated, let Kili guide his hands, show him how to stand, how the arrow had to be nocked - apparently an arrow had to be in a certain position, and it was obvious to see what that was to Kili, but Fili might as well have been blind - and guiding him through every shot. 

In over 2 hours of hard work, Fili managed to hit exactly one tree. Or more precisely, one tree he was actually aiming for. 

He was rubbish at it, openly laughed about it, but despite what he expected Kili didn't join in - just told him he needed a bit more practice.  
He stayed patient, kept praising him for any small success and gently corrected his mistakes, even those he kept repeating. There were jokes of course, and plenty of laughter, as was the norm whenever he found time to spend with his brother, but there was none of the usual teasing - at least not in regards to his nonexistent ability with Kili's weapon of choice. 

It was a side of his brother he had never seen before, and Fili found himself imagining what Kili could have been, if he could have pursued what he wanted. He would no doubt have become a world renowned archer, freely teaching any who wished to learn on the way. 

When Fili could barely draw the string anymore due to the pain in his fingers, Kili called it quits. Nothing to be learned from that point on; no one could shoot straight with trembling hands. 

It was only then that Kili's nerves seemed to catch up with him, the calm and competent teacher making way for his hopeful kid brother, obviously eager to repeat this afternoon - to get the opportunity to share his passion with Fili, to be able to pass something on to his older brother for once - and yet desperately trying to be satisfied with what he had gotten, so accustomed to be ridiculed that he didn't believe anyone else could ever love archery, much less want to learn it from him. 

"So, what do you think, am I good enough to deserve another lesson tomorrow? I swear I'm going to figure out which side of the arrow is up next time." 

Fili didn't love archery.  
He knew he was rubbish at it and he knew he could never openly use it.  
But he loved his brother, loved Kili, and aching fingers, hours filled with failures and nagging questions of where he disappeared to were a small price to pay for his brother's happiness.

**Author's Note:**

> A few months back, at a renaissance fair, I had the amazing opportunity to get half an hour of one on one teaching in archery. It was an incredible experience, my fingers hurt for hours afterwards and I was just as clueless as Fili about how to figure out what the right way to position that arrow was. My teacher kept telling me about some differences in the feathers that I should pay attention to. I don't know if I was just blind but I couldn't see what he meant for the life of me. Hence: Fili's confusion.


End file.
